A Parental Milestone

It has officially happened. On Saturday at approximately 11 AM, my child through a temper tantrum in public. I have seen it happen to other parents, I have tried to exhibit empathy as to their plight, and have waited it out...I knew it would happen eventually to us.

We were doing some Christmas shopping on Saturday, hoping to beat the lunch crowd. The Boy had been wanting to go to the mall for about a week now. You may think, you are so lucky, your Boy likes to shop. That is not the case, The Boy only wants to play with the Thomas the Train set in Von Maur. So, The Husband and I tell The Boy, if he listens well and behaves, he can play with the train. Well, we had been into Macy's for an office gift and had just entered Old Navy when what to his wondering eyes should appear....yes, folks, a gigantic basket of footballs at the front of the CLOTHING store.

The scene went something like this:

The Boy: Momma, can I play with one of those?
Momma: No, we don't play with things inside stores.
The Boy: But, I want to. Daddy, can I have one of those?
Daddy: No.

The Boy goes to get one anyway.

Momma: I said you cannot play with those. You need to listen or you are not going to be able to see the Thomas the Train set.

Chaos ensues, The Boy throws himself on the floor and actually kicks the floor and starts crying. We couldn't determine if he was upset about the football or the Thomas the Train threat.

The Husband then says it is time to go home then and The Boy just started shouting NO, NO, NO at the top of his lungs.

The whole scene lasted maybe 10 seconds. We picked The Boy up off the floor. Took him out to the mall walkway and had a discussion about his behavior. When all was said and done, The Boy looks at me and The Husband and says... I apologize.

He didn't act up the rest of the day. The Boy is usually very good about listening and I hope this will be the only time he does this. But, I can't help but feel like this experience has brought us to a whole new level of parenting.